All alone, just thinking about the government

May 30, 2013

My Democrat friend is on vacation, so all I can do is sit around, thinking about the government.

I think about the president. There was a recent column that said that Barack Obama is a political figure of world-historical caliber that Republicans underestimate at their peril. I disagree. Obama is a lazy and unpleasant loner who squeezes every penny out of the perks of his office and spends his time massaging his ego by giving speeches to captive audiences. He does not control what goes on. I give you as evidence for this opinion the apparently accepted fact that Valerie Jarrett personally delayed the attack on Osama bin Laden three times. I would also ask that you look again at the famous photo of the administration in the White House watching the Osama raid. Look carefully at the size of "Obama" in the picture and then bet me that he was not Photoshopped into the picture. Valerie Jarrett has a large Secret Service detail 24 hours a day. That should tell you something. The president is a pip squeak.

I think about Congress. Benghazi, for instance. Right now they are arguing over the Benghazi "talking points." They are dancing around the truth about Benghazi - that it was related to an operation running guns from Libya to the Syrian rebels, which I'm told is a violation of international law. Congress knows that if the full facts about Benghazi are known to the public, there will be enough tar and feathers for both parties, so they keep their attempts to score over each other to the relatively safe question of who wrote what when.

In the meantime, the country keeps sliding down the path to financial ruin, largely because of the lack of political will to do anything about entitlements. Congress knows that if they try to deal with entitlements, they will be voted out of office. So the country wanders on toward bankruptcy, and some day in the future, the country will default on its bonds, and if the politicians are to be believed, it will be the end of the world.

It won't be: If the government collapses, that will not be the end of America. What happens when we are stuck with natural disasters? People respond, communities respond, families come closer together and life goes on. What happens when we are attacked by terrorists? People respond, communities respond, families come closer together and life goes on. If the government collapses financially, people will respond, communities will respond and families will come closer together. Now, I can hear the voices of outrage from people who read this. "What will happen to Uncle Elmer, who depends on Medicare and Social Security?" This is what will happen: Uncle Elmer's family will gather around and support him and keep him going (unless Uncle Elmer's been a pain in the butt and then I'm not so sure about that).

If the government collapses, two things will happen. First, all our politicians will be thrown out of office, because the bankruptcy judge called on to fix the mess is certainly not going to put up with the people who got us into it. And, secondly and more importantly, people will think seriously about what we need a government for and what we are better off doing by ourselves, and life will go on, with a greater sense of purpose and optimism.